Wife pays loving tribute to Plymouth dad who died in motorcycle accident — (The Plymouth Herald)

The Plymouth Herald

By Emily Herald

May 4, 2016

A grieving wife has paid a loving tribute to her husband, after he died in a tragic motorcycle accident. Andrew Lapthorn, known to his friends and family as Andy, was travelling home from work at the Devonport Dockyard, along Weston Mill Drive, Plymouth, on October 20 last year when he crashed his motorbike.

An inquest heard that Mr Lapthorn died from traumatic head injuries caused when he hit a bollard, central island and another vehicle, while travelling on his Suzuki GSXR.Mr Lapthorn – a body builder – was married to Lorna for 11 years and had three children, aged 24, 18 and 11, as well as a ywo-year-old grandchild.

Speaking at the inquest, Mrs Lapthorn said: Andy was a careful driver and he always wire full leathers – he always put others first and worked hard to support us all.

“Nothing will ever fill the void he has left behind.”

A toxicological report showed that Mr Lapthorn had traces of antidepressants in his blood, which could lead to impaired driving, although they were recorded at a therapeutic level.

Mrs Lapthorn spoke out: “Andy was on and off antidepressants for the last 20 years when he was off them it could be for two years at a time. He went back on them last year before the collision because of personal reasons and he bottled things up.

“He was never suicidal. He kept his depression to himself and I was the onbly person who knew about it, other than health professionals.

“I have been a pillion passenger before and he liked taking me out – he was a very careful driver.

“We text eqach other about 15 times a day during the day and have a few phonecalls. He loved spending time with his family and we were very close…

Coroner Phillop Spinney ruled the death as the result of a road traffic collision. He said: “Mr Lapthorn was travelling more than 40 mph when he collided with a bollard and the central island, as well as a car. In my view this is an accident.

“He was taking antidepressants but it is unclear that these had any effect on his driving. Any impaired driving may be caused by symptoms of depression rather than the medication itself.”